Separated at Mirth: Great Ball's O' Fire!

Well, maybe not exactly Separated at... "Mirth"... unless your idea of fun is being under attack by fireballs - but, for any of you Fireball Fanciers out there, we humbly submit... 

DONALD DUCK #101 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: (May, 1965)...

...And WONDER WOMAN #99 (DC Comics, Cover Date: July, 1958).

One thing they DO have in common is that both are breathtaking images!  DONALD DUCK #101 is by Carl Barks.  WONDER WOMAN #99 is by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.  Each are the most classic artists for their respective characters - and it certainly shows here!  

And, while not a comic book cover, I'd be remiss if I didn't include this striking image from LOST IN SPACE, "Condemned of Space" (1967), with the Jupiter 2 narrowly avoiding a catastrophic collision... with guess what?!  

All three are guaranteed to "light up your life" in their own unique ways!  

TIAHBlog at 16 Presents (Not 16 Candles, but) 16 Covers!

We've all had individual and specific life-changing days!  Days which, for better or bitter, we will always remember!  I, personally, have had many... on BOTH sides of the "Good vs. Bad" ledger! Far too many to bog (...or BLOG) you down with here, even if I *were* inclined to do so.  

But Thursday, August 14, 2008 was one I thought little or nothing about... until some time well after when, as we often do with such days, come to later realize their import.  

It was a day when Esther was away for work and I had nothing to do... yes, REALLY!  This guy who did not *create* the phrase (all together now) "HORRIFICALLY BUSY",  but has since assumed virtual ownership of it - especially when preceded by a parenthetical "(all together now)" - really had nothing to do!  

New DVD day was Tuesday.  New comic book day was Wednesday.  And I wouldn't have a "Thursday Night Film Group" until 2012... so what was I to do?  

Well, to quote the great Doctor Zachary Smith of LOST IN SPACE: 

"Boredom, like necessity, is very often the mother of invention!" 

There were a LOT of Blogs around back then, many of which I admired and visited regularly. (Today, alas, not so much!)  And, while I might not have *actually been* a "writer" at that point, at least I fancied myself as one - what with over 300 comic book Letters of Comment, and regular appearances in Fanzines and APAs since 1994 under the title "THE ISSUE AT HAND" (affectionally shortened to "TIAH")!  

Then, I was struck by one of those "Chocolate and Peanut Butter" moments and thought I like BLOGS, and I like writing TIAH... so why not combine them into TIAHBlog?  

The rest has been 16 years of history (with much FUN) and counting!  

A constant in my life ever since - and one which, I'll readily admit, I let lapse a bit more often than I'd care to - but, unlike all the other things I've written for, both amateur and professionally, this is the ONE THING that's MINE and no one can take it from me... Okay, okay... Maybe Google, but you know... 

So, HAPPY SWEET SIXTEEN to TIAHBlog!  

But, instead of the song-standard SIXTEEN CANDLES, we will celebrate with SIXTEEN COVERS!

One each day for the NEXT SIXTEEN DAYS!  Can I manage that?  Well, stop by each day for the next SIXTEEN and see if I can live up to that ambition!  

They will be SIXTEEN COVERS that I like for one reason or another - or maybe it's just the 16th issue of something!  The beauty of it is that even I won't know until I post it!   

But, to kick things off, we shall begin with one that was (and remains) a long-standing joke between David Gerstein and myself... FELIX THE CAT #2 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: April-May, 1948), which I jokingly dubbed "SIX-SCREAM CANDLES", despite the incontrovertible fact that there is only ONE CANDLE present!

You can read the HOW and WHY at THIS POST!  

And, as a bonus - not to be counted among our own "SWEET SIXTEEN COVERS" - is the cover of  POPULAR COMICS #139 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: September, 1947) and dubbed in the linked post as "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF DECEASED"...

...A gag on a particular favorite classic TV show of mine...

So, one down and 15 more to go... Come back tomorrow to see where we go from here!  

R.I.P. Mark Goddard.

                             
In recent times, I’ve shied away from “R.I.P. posts”, for no more a reason than to reduce the sadness at this humble Blog… but this week was just too much to ignore for such a flimsy reason!

Mark Goddard played many things over his acting career but, to me and many others, he will always be Major Don West of the original (…and still the best) LOST IN SPACE (1965-1968).

Along with Guy Williams’ Professor John Robinson, Mark Goddard’s Major West continued to lend an air of seriousness, urgency, and plain old common sense that (…perhaps not always) balanced off the antics of Doctor Smith and the Robot.

He so perfectly served as an antagonist, counterpoint, and outright foil to Doctor Smith that there became what I called a subset series of LOST IN SPACE episodes that I called “The Don and Smith Shows”, where the two of them would be thrown into a situation together and must depend on each other (amid lots of bickering) to extricate themselves! 

I met Mark Goddard several times at New York conventions, and he very much embodied the warm (…at least when Smith wasn’t around) and enthusiastic (…ditto) gung-ho spirit of Major Don West! 

He said he was proud to have been in a TV series that spanned generations – and was something the whole family could watch and enjoy – unlike much of the prime-time TV fare of the late ‘90s-early 2000s time frame during which we spoke – much less now!

Family values in space! 

His favorite episode was “The Anti-Matter Man”, small wonder since he really got to cut loose in that one! 

He also wrote one issue of a LOST IN SPACE comic book that featured his character.

And speaking of writing, there was also this…

…purchased by me mere weeks before his passing on October 10, 2023 at the age of 87! 

Mark Goddard can also be heard on this wonderful Blu-ray set doing episode commentaries with Bill Mumy, Angela Cartwright, and Marta Kristen, and in other special features.

And, of course,  Mark Goddard as Major Don West had many ups and downs over the course of the series...

But he never stopped being one of the rocks of the series...

Piloting the Jupiter II into and out of trouble...

Being that reliable, level-headed presence of the group...

Keeping everybody safe no matter how offbeat the danger...

And doing his best to keep Doctor Smith in check!

...But not always succeeding!

But give him credit for TRYING!  Lots of credit! 

It was a thankless job, but SOMEBODY had to do it! 

 

Rest In Peace, Mark Goddard… You didn’t get to ride a real-life space shuttle but, to your many fans, you soared nonetheless!   

From the back of Mr. Goddard's Book...

HERE is a link to Me-TV's tribute to Mark Goddard!  

As a point of information: MeTV has been the cable TV home for LOST IN SPACE since at least Spring, 2013 (when I discovered it), running it weekly for OVER TEN CONSECUTIVE YEARS!  

Bill Mumy, Angela Cartwright, Marta Kristen, and Mark Goddard (2015).

Meece on Earth, Good Will to Pen!

As you know, Doc has a tendency to mix-up his words, as we covered in THIS POST! 

Nevertheless, here he is with an illustrated Holiday Greeting for all of this humble Blog's supporters... and, aw, heck... ALL of you everywhere!  Even if you don't read this Blog, and will never know about it! 

TAKE IT AWAY, DOC!  

MEECE...

...ON EARTH... 

...GOOD WILL...

...TO PEN!  

Hmmm... Not quite right, but definitely Doc!  Let's give him a DAY for CRYING... Er, an A for TRYING! 

MERRY EVERYTHING, AND HAPPY ANYTHING YOU WISH FOR!  ...And I'll try to do more and better in 2023!  

Separated at Mirth: Too Big To Fail... But, Somehow They Do!

 Some of us never "outgrow" comic books (...and thank goodness for that)...

...But, on rare occasions, some comic book characters will "outgrow" their cover image space to where their fearsome faces are obscured by the comic's title logo! 

And, with that rather tenuous introduction, we present out latest Separated at Mirth entry: WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #159 (DC Comics, Cover Date: June, 1966), cover by classic Superman artists Curt Swan and George Klein ...

...And DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #23 (Gladstone Series II, Cover Date: December, 1993), cover by the great Don Rosa.  

But, Joe... (you may find yourself asking), I see the "Separation" but, with our respective heroes facing such huge and overpowering adversaries, "Where's the Mirth?"  

To this, I offer that each issue's adversaries are just SOOOO BIG, that even the standard comic book cover image space cannot contain them!  

...An unusual, if not outright mirthful, use of the requisite issue title logo!  

  Gotta love this side-by-side!   

Of speculative interest: We know from previous comments, that Don Rosa read the Mort Weisinger-era Superman comics of which WORLD'S FINEST #159 is one - edited by Old Unca Mort himself.  

So, it's possible that Rosa could even have (consciously or otherwise) been influenced by that cover, when creating his own for DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #23.  

Regardless of who may have influenced whom, we leave you with WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #159 and DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #23...  Separated at Mirth!  

Though ya gotta wonder why the LAND OF THE GIANTS comic never tried that stunt!  

...It would have been a natural!